It wasn’t so long ago that the key tool for helping gay men to connect while traveling was a copy of the Spartacus International Gay Guide. My well-used copy from 1999 directed me to raunchy dance bars by Rome’s Termini, queer karaoke lounges in Tokyo, hot strip clubs in Mexico City, and questionable basement dives in Tunisia. Making those connections wasn’t always straightforward: a listing in Spartacus would sometimes lead you to a dead end, to a venue that had switched orientation or shut down.

Finding the LGBT community has now become more technological, because many of us carry in our pockets a mobile device that can instantly connect us to other gay guys in our area, no matter where we are in the world. Once downloaded onto a smartphone or tablet, geo-social networking applications like Grindr, Scruff, Jack’d, GROWLr, and Hornet pinpoint our precise location on the planet, plus the location of those around us who also use these apps, then display the results in a tantalizing grid of possibilities.

The first of these apps, Grindr, launched March 25, 2009. It has since seen more than ten million user downloads in 192 countries including Azerbaijan, Djibouti, Moldova, and Yemen. It’s even seen usage in the DMZ between North and South Korea. In fact, Grindr is used in every country in the world except for two small island nations: Nauru and Tuvalu. With over five million active monthly users worldwide, and with up to 300,000 users logged in at any given moment, it’s a useful tool for finding “Mr. Right or Mr. Tonight.”

Some of you know Grindr as the forbidden word, others as the leading global dating and/or hook up site, but more and more people are finding Grindr to be the best way to connect with other locals, when traveling around the globe, to get the expert inside take, recommendations and tips on where to go out, dine, hang out, what is hot and trendy…etc.

A smartphone application to connect on a all-male location-based social network. Grindr, which first launched in 2009, has exploded into the largest and most popular all-male location-based social network out there. With more than 3.5 million guys in 192 countries around the world — and approximately 10,000 more new users downloading the app every day — you’ll always find a new date, buddy, friend or local expert advise on Grindr.

Quick, convenient, and discreet. And it’s as anonymous as you want it to be.

You might think guys on Grindr don’t look up to see where they are very often, but the makers of the mandatory app released the winners of the inaugural member-voted Grindr Gay Travel Awards.

Our sister site, GayCities, announced its Best Of winners back in January, so we though we’d see how the two lists stack up. For the full list of Best of GayCities destinations, check out our leaderboard. And for more of Grindr’s picks, visit the company’s blog.

Grindr, the premier all-male geo-social network app, announced the winners of its inaugural Grindr Gay Travel Awards, in conjunction with its attendance at the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association conference in Florianopolis, Brazil.

Grindr polled its global network of 3.5 million users in 192 countries to determine their vote for the Grindr Gay Travel Awards. With votes from all over the world, New York City received the award for Gayest U.S. City, while London, was chosen as the Gayest International City.

“Grindr users have their finger on the pulse of gay culture and destinations,” said Joel Simkhai, Founder and CEO of Grindr. “They use Grindr when they travel, and they ask other Grindr users about the best places to go out, where to eat and what to do on their trips.”

Grindr users are a well-traveled and highly sought-after global community, according to the latest travel survey of more than 5,400 international Grindr users participating in a special Mobile Version of Community Marketing Inc.’s Annual Gay & Lesbian Tourism Survey. The survey reveals travel consumption habits and preferences with more than 42 percent having traveled to another continent in the past year and almost 30 percent surveyed identify themselves as luxury travelers.

Furthermore, almost 40 percent of Grindr users have increased their travels this year and nearly 15 percent of respondents have taken ten or more trips in the past twelve months. The survey also indicates 54 percent of Grindr users travel for business and while on business, 23 percent choose to stay in luxury hotels. While on vacation, 48 percent prefer to stay in a mid-range hotel, but 28 percent indicated that on their most recent vacation they opted for plushier accommodations offered by luxury hotels.

“The survey results show that our Grindr community has tremendous buying power to experience new destinations both domestically and internationally year-after-year, and are incredibly tech-savvy by using smartphones to plan and share their trips,” said Serge Gojkovich, Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Grindr. “With a global community of more than three million users, Grindr helps gay men connect to the world via their smartphones, especially when traveling.”